Freedom Planet: Worlds of Malice
by Conan2603
Summary: Lilac and her good friend Ignatius are going for a nice hike. When all of a sudden, a weird substance falls from the sky. Little do they expect that substance will make them travel throughout the universe to save everyone from a new evil!


Freedom Planet: _ **Worlds of Malice**_

Part 1: Initiation for Planet Exploration.

When I went hiking on the side of a mountain, I definitely didn't expect to be attacked by my own friend. I had been thinking to myself, what would be a good place to go with my girlfriend? The two of us could go anywhere, me being such a grand hero, and her also being a hero. I thought about all the places I had been to in Eurashia when my friends and I had saved the world. My planet is mostly water, so all the land masses are just islands, that somehow have different weather conditions to them. It was pretty annoying to get around when things were going crazy. Some big ugly bird dude named Hefferion wanted to enslave us, and of course I couldn't let that happen, so I stopped him with my epic fire powers. Yeah I have that, the element of fire I can summon whenever I feel like. Just one of the many great aspects of being Ignatius the cat! Anyway, I came to the conclusion that one of the farther away islands, one that had a huge snowy mountain, would be fun to hike on. So I texted her.

" Yo Lilac u up for hiking on a snow mountain tomorrow?"

" What snow mountain?"

" I know of one. Itll be fun trust me!"

" Um, sure! What time?"

" Whats good for you?"

" 1:00pm?"

" got it. See ya then!"

" ok!" And that was that.

The next morning, I was eating breakfast with my good buddy Razma the tiger, who was there to help me when I saved the world. He was eating a set of bacon strips, and me a bowl of cereal. I turned to him.

" So I'm heading out again with Lilac."

" Oh really? Cool. To where?" He asked me.

" One of the islands to go on a mountain."

" A mountain? Nice. Just stay warm."

" You know I can!"  
" Yup! Maybe even Lilac also?"

" If she needs warmth, I got her fam!" I proudly put a hand to my chest.

" Of course. Well have fun!" Raz said.

" Thanks, it should be interesting!" Once we finished, I cleaned the dishes and got on my clothes, red and blue shirt, gloves and shoes. I headed out the door, running down to the small neighborhood on my island, up to the house Lilac and her friends lived. Lilac was waiting outside already. She was wearing her usual, white gi, red belt, big blue and white hearing aids, blue boots, pants and gloves. It wasn't the most complicated get up, but it was fine. You don't need complexity in order to be good. When she saw me she waved and came over.

" Hey Iggy! How are you?" Lilac asked me.

" I'm doing quite fine! Yourself?" I responded.

" Alright. I readied a pack of food and drinks with a small tent for us if we need it."

" Oh, ok. Good job being prepared."

" Heh, thanks. I'm ready when you are."

" Alright, come on then!" I lead her to the docking station, where my boat awaited. A simple craft to speed us across the aquatic sea, red in color.

I helped Lilac onto the boat, taking control of the thruster. I zoomed us over the water. It was a nice day out. The sun was shining, not too many clouds in the sky. The water itself was a light blue, I could see down below at the schools of fish swimming past, the corals and other sea plants. It was all pretty peaceful. Lilac's long dragon tendrils blew around in the wind. I couldn't help but stare.

" Do you know if the government has done anything with all this water?" She asked me.

" Yeah. During my travels I visited an underwater city, using the water to power it." I told her. I remembered that city, all the buildings were a dark green with blue lines going around them. It was an interesting place to be.

" They used the water to power it?" Lilac said.

" Yup. Not sure how. But they did. I don't know what else they do."

" What about building bridges to these other islands so you don't need to use boats?"

" I think there have been word that that might be happening. But the government is careful. Getting resources to make things is harder in this world. At least from what it sounds like on your world. So who knows what could be happening."

" I see. I just feel like it would help out."

" Yeah it would." I liked how Lilac was always looking for ways to help other people. It was one of the defining qualities about her.

The boat ride took about ten minutes. We reached the island. The temperature dropped, the huge mountain looming in front of us. I helped Lilac off the boat.

" Oh jeez it is cold!" She complained.

" Don't worry I got you!" I ignited my body a little. Just enough to keep her warm. We walked on. The snow crackled underneath us, little flakes fell from the sky. We came to the bottom of the mountain.

" Ready?" I asked.

" Yeah, let's do this!" Lilac and I jumped onto the side of the mountain. We both are very disciplined in the art of doing dangerous things. So slowly climbing up a freezing cold, slippery white surface wasn't too hard for me or her. We moved upwards, Lilac grabbing for pieces of ice sticking out of the side to hang onto. I had my lovely claws to allow me to dig into the surface a bit to climb up easier. I tried not to heat up too much, as to not burn off all the ice. After some time, I heard a rumbling noise. Looking up ahead I saw an avalanche coming down on us. A big cluster of ice hurtling toward us.

" Watch out!" I told Lilac. " Move over to the right quickly!" She did so, me maneuvering to the left. We managed to avoid the downpour of frozen cold.

" That was a close one." Lilac said. We continued up the mountain. At certain points, icicles hanging on the bottom of small platforms let loose, dropping toward us. We swiftly dodged these, leaning left and right. We came to a hole in the side of the mountain. A huge chunk had been broken off at some point. I hung onto the edge, gazing at the concave that was now before us. A thin pole of ice touched the other side of the hole. If we wanted to climb around this with relative ease, we would have to take the pole.

" Hey Lilac. Are you a good pole dancer?"

" What?" She turned a little red. " What does that have to do with anything of course not!" I laughed.

" I'm kidding. See that stretch of ice? It's the only way to get across as far as we are concerned."

" Oh, ok." Lilac moved around me and began to climb her way up the ice pole. I went up close behind. A few times Lilac almost slipped off. Of course the heroic helper that I am, steadid her with one hand until she could keep on moving upwards. Thankfully we were able to reach the other side of the concave hole safely. I began to get tired, we had been climbing straight up for a little while now. Finally I saw a platform bigger than the others close ahead.

" Lilac! Let's rest on that big piece of ice!"

" Ok!" She dragged herself over the edge, and helped me up and over.

We sat there, breathing heavily, looking at the horizon. The wind was blowing, flakes falling down. The mountain stretched below and above us. The surrounding ocean now coated in the ice wind, making it look a light white color, much like the snow we were sitting on.

" This planet sure does have some nice views." Lilac commented. " This is like the ones we had on Avalice, except singled out on an island. How does that even work?"

" I don't really know how exactly." I responded. " I guess it somehow keeps the temperature to itself only in this bit of land. Like how your world supposedly changes weather as you go farther along across the world. Instead of the landscape shifting into a different weather gradually, we have water to separate each islands own individual climates and temperatures to itself."

" Huh, that's cool!"

" Was that a pun?"

" I'll say I meant it to be one."

" Hehe, alright Lilac." I felt happy, sitting up here, with my great friend. It was really nice, even if my butt was cold. I got up after a few more minutes.

" Well then, wanna keep going?" I asked Lilac.

" Sure. Do you want eat something from this pack?"

" No thanks I'm good. Do you ?"

" Hmm, I think I'll have some chips real quick."

" Alright." As she ate, I glanced up above. More of the same we had already been through it seemed. Then something fell across my face. I looked down to the ground. Some kind of weird, black and purple bit of goo had landed next to me. At first I paid no attention, didn't seem like anything special. I turned back to Lilac, who had just finished eating.

" Ready now?" I asked.

" Yup." She got up, and put her backpack on. Lilac looked at the ground, then looked surprised.

" What is that?" She pointed.

" Huh?" The little piece of goo I had noticed was now expanding and spreading across the snowy ground, filling up the platform. It swayed and moved around on its own. " How? I saw that fall from the sky but, what is this?" I questioned. The goo was coming at us fast, quickly covering the entire platform. Lilac and I were forced to back peddle to the edge of the ice.

" What should we do?" Lilac asked me.

" Um." I glanced down the mountain side. I could make out a pool of water at the base. I got an idea so stupid it might just work. " Lilac! Hold my hands." I took her hands in mine.

" Wait what are we doing?" She asked.

" If this goo stuff is gonna take over the mountain, then we have to leave, now."

" What does-" I jumped off, pulling her down with me. I know, this might sound like death, but it was fine. Like I've mentioned, the two of us do dangerous things a lot. So this fall shouldn't be fatal, assuming we land in the water. With Lilac screaming the whole way down we managed to hit the pool, creating a big splash. I quickly leaped back out of the water, hauling out Lilac along with me.

" You good?" I asked.

" I guess so. What was that for?"

" Only thing I could think of."

" Well next time let me know before you do something like that please."

" Ok ok sorry."

Lilac got up and peered back at the mountain.

" I wonder what that stuff was."

" Lilac."  
" yeah?"

" There's some on your shoulder."

" What?!" Lilac pawed at the little bit of goo that somehow fell on her. Only thing she managed was to get more of it on her arm. She rapidly swung her arm around, but the goo simply spread around her.

" Iggy! Help it isn't coming off!" Lilac cried.

" Ok, but what am I supposed to do?" I couldn't touch that stuff with my bare hand. I also didn't want to hurt her.

" I dunno but do something quickly!" Soon she was completely coated in a somewhat thin layer of black and purple goo. Her motions went rigid for a second.

" L-Lilac?" I asked weakly. She didn't speak, her eyes now glowing pure white as she stared at me. Lilac suddenly charged me. I dodged out of the way. " What are you doing?" She spun around swiftly, kicking me in the chest. I was thrown onto the ground. Lilac stood over, raising her foot for another strike. I rolled over, and jumped to my feet. " Stop! Why are you fighting me? Is it the goo?" It had to be. Perhaps it was somehow controlling her? What the heck was this stuff? Lilac ran at me again, I thrust out my arm to block, but she jumped up, slamming her foot back down on top of me. I got up again, dazed. Lilac stalked toward me, murder and selfishness in her eyes. I didn't want to, but I raised my hand, blasting her with a geyser of hot flame. She recoiled back, some of the goo trickling off. I had to keep attacking, just enough to free her of the evil stuff. I swiped my hand in an arc in front of me, slashing Lilac with more fire. As she was hit, more of the goo came off. I brought fire down onto her from above, burning the rest of the goo. Lilac herself seemed perfectly fine. Her skin was a only a little bit seared. She fell into my arms, unconscious. " Lilac! Are you ok? Hello?" I had to get her to safety until she woke up again.

I picked her up and ran back to the boat. Once I reached our home island, I ran her back to her house. I knocked on the door. A green cat in a black shirt top, green pants and black gloves answered.

" Carol! Please help me. I don't know what happened." I said frantically.

" Woah! Yeah come on in. Is she conscious?" Carol asked.

" Not right now. Maybe if we lay her down she'll be fine." I told her as we carried Lilac into the house. We set her down on the living room couch. I checked her breathing, it was normal, good.

"0 So what happened exactly?" Carol questioned me. I explained about the mountain and the dark goo that infected Lilac. Carol looked puzzled.

" Never heard of anything like that. Is that kind of thing natural in this world?"

" As far as I know, and I know a lot of things, no it is not. It fell from the sky and boom! Starts to spread." I opened my arms.

" Weird. You should go see Alex. He might know about this sort of thing."

" Ah yes he would. You watch Lilac and I'll go see our wolf friend." I took off down the street, fairly close by was the house of my good friend. I knocked on the door and he answered. Alex is a purple wolf, wearing a brown bodysuit and white and orange shoes.

" Hello Iggy! What's up?"

" Alex my dude I need your help!"

" Sure what is it?" I told him the situation. " -and can you take a look at the goo please? Is Lilac gonna be ok?" Alex thought for a moment.

" This sounds familiar. Show me the spot where you guys were." I took him to the base of the mountain, did I mention we moved fast? Anyway there was a very small amount of goo left. Alex brought out a small container and carefully scooped up the last of the goo. He studied it for a second. " Interesting. I might know what this is. Come back tomorrow and I can tell you."

" And Lilac?" I asked worriedly.

" She should be fine. Tell me if anything happens." We went back to the home island.

At this point I was really tired of going back and forth to the same two locations. When I got back to Lilac's house, she had already woken up.

" Iggy? What happened?" She asked when I came in.

" Uh, that goo stuff possessed you. I had to knock it off of you and bring you back here. Do you feel ok?"

" I think I'm fine. How did it control me?"

" I don't know! I asked Alex for help and he said to come back tomorrow."

" Oh, then do you wanna meet at his place then?"

" I guess. Do you need me to stay here?"

" I'm fine, just tired."

" Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then." I turned toward the door. " Also, it was fun."

" Yeah, it was." She said. Hesitantly, I ran back to my shack for the day.

The next morning Lilac and I were in Alex's basement. He was showing us the goo and his findings on his laptop.

" So this stuff is what I initially thought it was when you first showed me it, Iggy. It's known as Malice. A type of infectious substance that was created in a world very far away from this one."

" Another world?" I asked.

" Yup. I used to live there when I was little, then trouble happened with wars and my family had to leave for Avalice. The creatures there called Humans developed a being named Mephiles. I don't know of its original purpose, but I do know that it caused lots of trouble. All he ever did was spread his dark Malice everywhere, like a disease. From what I've heard, the heroes of the world banished him. He fled to a distant uninhabited planet, which he resides, sending out Malice to four different worlds in the hopes of regaining his strength and coming back. I guess one piece landed here. Though it seems the Malice has a tendency to find a center host, or the first host it latches onto. If that host is cleansed than the surrounding goo will be dissipated. So that's why the Malice you guys encountered was gone a few hours later." Me and Lilac stared in surprise.

" Wow. Alright. Then we are safe then?" I said.

" Yeah on this planet." Alex responded.

" How do you find out this stuff?"

" I use lots of research and thinking, and time." Alex told me. Lilac crossed her arms.

" Hmph. Ok, but those other planets are still in trouble! We saw what that stuff can do! I say we should head over to those worlds and rid them of this infection!"

" Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to get there?" I asked.

" You can use a government rocket." Alex suggested. " Also the Malice can be gotten rid of if you find the original host and remove it from them. If they have glowing eyes then it's them."

" Alright, sounds easy enough. I've always wondered what other planets looked like." I said. Who knows, this might be an experience I learn from and be deadly!

" Right. Where is this rocket then?" Lilac asked.

" Ah that would be in the Gov. island. It's a little ways away from here. But we can make it in a few hours on a boat." I explained.

" Ok, should we go today?" Lilac questioned.

" Sure. I would suggest getting some supplies first. We can meet back up at the pier and drive over to the official island." I said.

" Alright got it. See you then." Lilac left. I turned to Alex.

" Thanks for the help as always dude. You wanna come along?" I offered. Alex was normally good assist on adventures.

" No, I have things I need to do here. Like school. But I'm sure you guys will be fine with this on your own." He handed me a small device. It was circular, with a purple control pad in the middle. " This will guide the rocket to the worlds in a certain order. I just kind of made it up."

" Oh thanks. This will definitely help. But I will be fine obviously, it seems like fun. Well I'll see you later. I'm gonna pack for the trip." I took the device and went back home.

It might seem like a bit much that I'm doing all of this on the same day, but I like this sort of thing. It is fun! Makes life more interesting than just sitting around doing nothing. I packed some food, drinks, and medical supplies, said bye to Raz and ran to the pier where Lilac was waiting. I drove us towards the government island. It took maybe two hours? It was pretty boring.

"I wonder what exactly this other world is that Alex was talking about and why this Mephiles wants to cover everything in darkness." Lilac said.

" I don't know. But it seems we need to stop it before it spreads." I responded.

" Do we know where we are going?"

" Yup! Alex gave me a thing we can use to direct the ship towards each planet." I showed her the device.

" Huh, cool. He's pretty handy."

" Yeah he is." We finally reached the government island. It mostly consisted of a few tall grey buildings. Though one of them was a missile silo. It was getting near night time now, so only the guards were out.

" Ok, so we need to sneak into the control room. Then I can turn on the ramp to allow access to the rocket's cockpit." I explained.

" How do we sneak in?" Lilac asked.

" Around the back are vents we can bust open and crawl through."

" Oh. Alright. Show me." The two of us slowly tiptoed to the back side of the building so the other guards didn't notice us. I melted the vent and we climbed in. It definitely smelled like dead rats in there, ugh. I had been here before so I remembered the layout. We moved quietly to avoid detection. I hate these places, they seem to have this threatening atmosphere to them. Like one wrong move and you'll be punished. Which I guess was true for our situation. We weaved through the corridors, hiding when guards got too close. One time we entered the women's restroom to hide, that was awkward for me. But luckily no one else was in there. Once we arrived in the control room, we silently knocked out the two guards standing there, who were facing the other direction. In the glass I could see the huge rocket, sitting in the dark. I pressed buttons on the dashboard, moving the ramp next to the cockpit, and opened the door. I almost slammed it into the side of the wall on accident at first, getting a comment from Lilac.

Once that was accomplished we creeped our way up the ramp. I carefully opened the door to the rocket and let Lilac in. Just as I was about to go in myself, I heard a voice behind me.

" Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get away from that rocket!" I turned to see a guard facing me, holding a rifle. I put up my hands.

" O-officer! Is there a problem?" I asked him.

" You kid shouldn't be here! Step away now!" I always get pissed when people call me 'kid.' Because I am much greater than that, despite only being a teen. But still, age never stopped me or my friends from doing grand things.

" Kid? How about no. Sorry dude, no pay for your time." I raised my hand and torched him. Not the best thing to do I know, but still, I was in a hurry! I climbed into the cockpit.

" What was that?" Lilac questioned as I closed the door.

" Uh, nothing. We need to leave though, now." I connected the device Alex gave me and pressed a button on it. Immediately the rocket began to take off, the roof opening.

" You were caught weren't you." Lilac said.

" Maybe. But right now that doesn't matter. We're going into space!" Lilac and I took our seats and watched as we blasted off through the sky. We went past the clouds and into outer space. I must say space does look beautiful. All the stars and and planets in the distance just seemed nice. I looked back as my home world got further and further away as we zoomed off to our first world to cleanse.

Part 2: Dark Look-a-Like

Apparently this rocket moved very quickly. I saw dozens of planets, stars, moons, and gas giants whizz past us. They came in all different colors and sizes. Some were red, orange, blue, green, purple, and mixture of those colors, and more. Some were very small, others were much bigger than Eurashia. The good thing was, me and Lilac didn't have to drive. The device Alex had given me was steering itself the whole way through. Thankfully we didn't crash land onto any planet we weren't supposed to be on. Though to be fair, I didn't know what planet we _were_ supposed to be on anyway. I trusted the device to take us there. Was that a bad plan? Maybe. But not to worry, I always get out of dangerous plans. Part of why I'm such a hero! I had only been to space one other time. Back when my planet was in trouble before. So it was nice to see it again. Sometimes I wonder how big the universe really is. Are there others like us? If our mission is real, then I guess I would find out.

" Iggy. Do you think we are being too hasty?" Lilac asked me. I turned around. She was in her seat, gazing out at space. She seemed to be thinking.

" Why, of course not! Well, maybe a little." I admitted. " But hastiness is nothing to worry about! We always get out of hasty situations. Why, if hasty was a kind of condiment, I would have so much that you could make fifteen sandwiches. And still have some left over!" My greatness allowed that to make sense.

" Heh. Right. But, should we have invited our friends? Instead of leaving them behind?" Lilac asked. I thought for a second.

" We could have. But Lilac, you forget: It's us! We have stopped dangerous crimes before! Remember the UIT? Those guys who wanted to use their experiments on the world? We blew them up, literally. Remember the day Carol almost died? We actually travelled to another world to save her. It was thanks to you I could have found the strength to do those things. We could have others with us. But honestly, as long as I'm here with you, I am good!" I smiled, happy to tell the truth. Lilac put her hands on her face. After about a few seconds. She came back up, smiling.  
" Thank you Iggy. I can see why they call you a hero. You know how to make one feel better." I could feel my blushing.

" U-uh. I mean, it was only the truth. Who said I was smart?" I stuttered. Lilac laughed.

" Alright then. This could be the fun."

" Yeah, why not? Have you ventured out in space?" I asked her.

" Only twice. Once when Lord Brevon tried to escape. The other was when my people was forced to move to Eurashia. So not good times."

" Oh. Well this will be a good time then!" I said proudly. Whatever things we might face on the way to Mephiles, I made it my vow to keep Lilac safe. This would be a journey she would remember. And not from the grave.

" I hope so. I wonder what this first planet is gonna be like." Lilac wondered. I pointed to her window.

" I think we are gonna find out. Look." Our ship was turning, heading straight for a planet. It was mostly blue and a little bit of green on the outside. Either the rocket was malfunctioning, or we were going toward the darkness.

As we zoomed into the planet's atmosphere, the rocket began to shudder. I quickly took my seat and strapped in. Lilac also doing so. We cleared the clouds. I could see a vast mountain range. Brown colored rock stretched for miles. In the far distance I could barely make out rolling green hills. The ship turned upwards just before hitting the ground. We flew across the landscape. I saw we were heading towards what looked like another planet? It was smaller than the one we were in. It was also blue and green, just more black now. Black?  
" That must be because of the dark goo we encountered earlier." Lilac noted. We went directly into the smaller planet. We landed down in a land of long sloping hills. The grass was a faded green. The walls light brown. The rocks themselves sloped upwards, like a slide. Big palm trees were littered everywhere. Across the way, a lake spread out. Me and Lilac hopped out of the rocket.

" Woah. This place looks crazy!" I exclaimed. " Never seen a landscape that goes upwards like that."

" I kinda have. But this is weird!" Lilac agreed. I looked around. I noticed a trail of floating golden rings leading deeper into the green valley.

" Huh. Wait how." I walked over. As soon as I touched the ring, it vanished, the remains seemed to be absorbed into me. I felt a little stronger now. " What is this?" Lilac collected a ring.

" Magic rings? How is that possible?" She asked.

" Don't even know. But if they help us. And I mean I feel stronger right now, so I would say it does. Then we should take them."

" Isn't that stealing?"

" I don't see a name on it. Plus I'm used to stealing so it's all good." I grabbed three more rings.

" Iggy!" Lilac said to me.

" What? Can we just move on if this is gonna bother you? I'll put it back!" I didn't need us fighting as soon as we made contact with our first planet.

" Fine. What are we looking for then?"

" More goo I guess. Come on."

I ran ahead, dashing through a trail of rings. I ran up the side of a slope, carrying the momentum with me. I leaped off the top, getting serious air. I landed back down. Lilac followed suit.

" This is awesome!" I said. I continued on. Jumping between hills and hanging edges to get higher. Hopping over small pillars standing over the water. It's like this place was meant for someone to run and platform in it. Then, I encountered a robot. It looked like a pray mantis. It was green, with yellow glowing eyes. It had the same dark goo swirling around it. It showed its big sharp pincers at Lilac and I.

" What is that? It has that same kind of stuff on it." Lilac noted. The mantis charged. It jumped at us, tossing its slicers. They came spinning around both sides of us. I jumped up, Lilac ducked down. I came back down, pummeling the robot in the head. It was only stunned. Lilac kicked it in the chest, it staggered back. I shot out a geyser of flame, finally doing damage. As the mantis tried to shake off the fire, Lilac whacked it in the head with her foot, taking off its head. The goo melted, leaving the robotic parts.

" That was weird. It took attacks from both of us pretty well." I said.

" Maybe this stuff is stronger than we thought it was. Let's keep going. We need to find the guardian." Lilac ran on ahead. I chased after her.

We left the grassy plains and entered what looked a highway. Dozens of different metallic roads lead in every direction. Forward, back, left, right, up and down. I wasn't sure how anyone could actually maneuver here properly.

" This place is so wacky." I mentioned.

" Yeah. But this looks like fun!" Lilac ran ahead, zooming down the speedways. She jumped to different paths, running all around the place. I smiled and followed after her. We ran on, moving through the highway roads, nothing was in our way so we could just zoom onward. We came to a small grey booster on the ground. When we stepped on, were we blasted off even faster in the direction it was facing. This made it so that we could move with even greater speed. It was a lot of fun. There were mid air boosters too. Lilac wasn't sure about them, but I jumped up, getting shot off into the sky. Lilac followed. We both screamed in delight as we flew. I saw a city around us. There were lights flashing. It was like a show was going on. We landed and dashed off.

After a little while. We encountered more mantis. Three this time. They threw their slicers and ran at us. I jumped over one, and spun around to avoid the other. Lilac kicked one upward, spinning to dodge the other. As the robotic insects charged, I punched the first in the face, it staggered close to Lilac, who kicked it into its partner. They tumbled over each other. I melted them. The third one hit me from behind. I was pushed forward. Lilac jumped over me and kicked it to the ground. I whirled around and brought down my flaming foot, crushing it.

" Nicely done. Seems we are moving closer to the source. Let's go." We continued onward. We came to a large was a metallic bronze, and seemed old. A man's face with a mustache and glasses was built into the top of it. Large clots of the dark goo were clinging to the sides of it.

" Yeah it seems we are at the source perhaps." Lilac said.

" Then let us see inside." We entered the large open doors.

Inside was another race way. This one was a singular path. In front of it was a small robot laying on the ground. I inspected it. It was blue, with one giant black eye. It had a yellow hole in the middle of it. It's feet were red. It was as if this bot were meant to impersonate someone or thing.

" I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Said a voice behind us. Me and Lilac turned. Standing in front of us was a hedgehog. He looked like the bot lying on the dusty ground. Except his eyes were white with black pupils stomach and arms and mouth a brownish peach color. " I've tried disposing of him multiple times. But everytime, I can't damage him enough to finish him." The hedgehog came up to the bot and crossed his arms. " Ever since that goo stuff arrived, he won't be destroyed."

" Do you know why?" I asked.

" Nope. Might have something to do with that goo. He has it all over him. Makes him stronger."  
" What if we tried to kill it together? Then we could finish it!" Lilac offered.

" Maybe. But it hasn't come online in a few days, so who knows."

" What is your name by the way?" I asked.

" Sonic. I try to protect this place from the goo. If it were to spread to the rest of Mobius, then, well…" He didn't need to finish.

" Then wait till it wakes up and kill it!" I announced.

" If it would wake up." Sonic said in a low tone.

After a few minutes, I looked around.

" Do you know where this comes from Sonic?" I asked.

" I know of the legend of the dark one who put the curse on this small planet."

" Mephiles?" Lilac asked.

" Yeah. I wasn't around when he was created. But I'm here now to fight it." Sonic told us.

" That is good. We are going to stop Mephiles." I said.

" Really? Doesn't seem easy. This goo by itself is hard enough to get rid of." Sonic sighed.

" Who made it? The robot?" Lilac asked.

" I believe someone named Gerald Robotnik did. He was once a genius who tried to conquer the world. But thanks to the efforts of a group called the Freedom Fighters, he was stopped. That group is my hero." Sonic pointed to the robot. " But this was left here. The goo corrupted it and-" Suddenly the ground shook. The Robotic hedgehog activated. It's eyes glowed red. It jumped upward, using its feet to rocket off and fly. It circled around us. " It became like that." Metal Sonic flew at us, firing red hot balls of energy.

" Time to go move! Come on you two!" Sonic zoomed off, running down the speedway at a velocity I've never seen. I would have stared. Had it not been for Metal Sonic trying to kill us.

Me and Lilac managed to catch up to Sonic. We ran along the speedway.

" What do we do?" Lilac asked.

" We need to reach the other side of this road before he does! Then he might be weak enough to destroy." Sonic explained. Metal Sonic flew over us. It shot out a laser from its stomach. I jumped up, and punched Metal in the tummy. It wasn't even flinched. It spun around, cutting my chest. I fell down. Lilac caught me.

" Are you ok Iggy?" She asked. I released myself and we moved on.

" Fine. Ow. That thing is tough!" I complained.

" Exactly. Maybe if we hit it all three of us at the same time." Sonic guessed. I realized the plan.

" Yeah. If he is weakened. Then we hit him together. We got this!" I declared.

It wasn't easy getting to the other end of the road. Metal Sonic kept zooming at us. Cutting, firing and spin dashing us. No matter how many times any of hit him, we couldn't dent him. Lilac would dragon boost him, and would get fired at and hit. Sonic would try to homing attack him, only to miss. My fire wouldn't work. The goo around Metal was protecting him. If one of our attacks didn't do damage. Then maybe all of us would. In the near distance I saw what looked liked a gate. It was currently open.

" There! Get in there before Metal does!" Sonic yelled.

" What happens if we don't make it?" Lilac asked.

" Then booster pads will spring up and try to electrocute us! Believe me I should know. Almost didn't make it last time." I didn't notice before, but Sonic had multiple scars on him. Had he been shocked? I had to end this Metal look-a-like now. The three of us picked up speed, making it through the gateway. It closed down on Metal Sonic. I thought it was gonna get crushed. But the gate reopened, letting Metal through.

" And that needs to happen why?" I asked.

" Because. This place listens to it. It can tell the door to open. I guess." Sonic told me. The Metallic copy charged us again.

" Let's do this. If we fight together, it shouldn't stand a chance." Lilac said.

Sonic jumped to the left as Metal dove past him. He homing attacked, sending the robotic into me. I punched upward, hitting Metal Sonic up into the sky. Lilac leaped, dragon boosting into Metal. I tried to hit it from underneath, but it whirled around, kicking me to the ground. As I fell, Sonic jumped off the wall, spin dashing into it. Metal Sonic was now twitching. The goo was dissipating. We had to continue. I got up, running at Metal. It fired a shot of energy at me. I dove down under it, got up, spun around the next. I hopped, slashing above me. The fire arc hit Metal, it recoiled from the flame. Lilac grabbed its feet. She hurled it toward the ground. Metal Sonic righted himself midair. Sonic jumped on top of it, kicking downward. Metal was thrust into the ground. I brought down a column of flames. Metal Sonic was finished.

The robot was completely melted. The dark goo remains slinked away, before dissipating completely. The dark goo all around the speedway could be seen going away as well.

" Without the guardian to anchor to, the goo must vanish. We saved this planet!" Lilac said cheerfully.

" Yup! Nice job Lilac!" I complimented.

" Thanks you too! And you Sonic!" Lilac replied. Sonic rubbed his nose.

" Heh, well it couldn't be done without you two. Where did you come from?" He asked.

" Believe it or not. We come from a far away planet. We encountered the goo there. Our friend told us of this Mephiles person. Lilac didn't want to let the worlds suffer. So I joined her to save them." Lilac blushed.

" Well, I cannot let this happen. I mean look at what happened here!" She said.

" Heh. You're right. Mephiles does seem powerful. Do you know where he is now?" Sonic asked.

" I guess. My friend did. So he gave us a device thing that lead us here. I guess it will lead us to the other planets." I explained.

" Hmm, seems convenient."

" I guess. But hey, we got this. Do you wanna come along?" I offered.

" No. I should stay here. I want to make sure this place stays safe." Sonic turned to run off. " Sorry but I hate standing in one place for too long. Good luck on your travels. If you need help, I'll try to come." Sonic dashed off.

" Wait! How do we call you?" I yelled after him. But Sonic was gone. I shrugged and turned to Lilac. " That was interesting. You ready to move on?" I asked her.

" Yeah. Let's go."

We ran back to the rocket. I could see the difference. Without the goo, things were more colorful. There were no dangerous paths, no enemies. It was how it should be. I thought of the three other planets that were still in trouble because of this goo. I ran faster. Me and Lilac climbed back into the rocket. As she got into her seat, I turned the device on and we took off again. The ship shuddered as we left Mobius and zoomed off into space again. I wondered what the next planet would be like. And if they were all this crazy.

Part 3: Not so much a plumber. More like a fighter.

The next planet was mostly green, with a small amount of blue. As we in came in for a landing, I saw the landscape. It was weird. There were green lands, cities, deserts, ice lands, lands covered in lava. Massive green pipes stuck out of the ground in every direction. What was this place? The underground sewer system of some city? It looked like it.

" What are all these pipes doing sticking up like this? It's really weird." I said.

" Yup. Never thought I would be seeing this kind of thing." Lilac agreed. " Hey, is that a castle?" I looked in her direction. There was a large white and red castle in the distance. It seemed odd when compared to the modern cities not too far from it.

" I guess it is. Wonder what it's there for?" I asked. I saw little people running around on the ground below. They were little mushrooms with legs and feet. What? " Tell me I'm not hallucinating. Are those mushrooms?"

" Oh jeez. Seems like it. Must be a planet specific species." Lilac guessed.

" Right. I should be getting used to that probably. Where are we being taken to?" I watched as we flew past the castle and the mushroom people.

Our ship came to a landing in a desert. Me and Lilac stepped out. It was very windy. Sand got in my fur, which I didn't appreciate. I shook it off. I saw large dancing cacti and rolling tumbleweeds. They had faces.

" Faces? What the heck? What kind of plants have faces?" I wondered.

" I'm beginning to think that not questioning this is the best course of action. Like you had mentioned earlier." Lilac decided. I nodded.

" Right." We wandered for a bit. It was hard to move quickly with the roaring winds and faces staring at me. We eventually were encountered by little brown mushroom things. They only had legs and fangs sticking out of their mouths. I smashed the first one's head in. Kicked the other to the side. Lilac upper kicked the next and sent it flying into the sky.

" Weird little guys. They don't seem very threatening." I noted. We continued.

After sometime. The air died out. We became surrounded by more enemies. More of those brown things. New were green and yellow turtles. The two groups charged us. Me and Lilac readied. But we didn't need to fight. Suddenly a red blur zoomed through the group, knocking them out, hitting them to the side. A plump man landed in the middle of the squad. He was wearing red and blue overalls, a red cap and a big bushy mustache. He had a yellow cape on. He spun around fast, whacking away the other turtles and brown things. He burnt the final couple of enemies with fireballs that came blasting out of his white gloved hands. Once he was finished, he turned to us.

" Heya. Are youa ok?" He asked.

" We're fine. Who are you?" I asked.

" I'm Super Mario! Wahoo!" The man jumped into the air and landed back down. " You two look different. Are you part of Bowser's army?"

" Who? Uh, No. We are from a different planet. We came here to find the source of darkness supposedly here." Lilac explained. " What kind of species are you?"

" I am human. Are youa animals?" Mario responded.

" Yeah. Human? That is a new one." I said.

" Ita is? Well, youa mentioned before the darkness. It is here. I have managed to contain it down to Bowser's castle just up ahead. Isa that where you're going?" Mario explained.

" I guess so. Who is Bowser?" I asked.

" Youa don't know? Wella being from space maybe youa wouldn't. He is like those turtles I just smashed. But he is a lot bigger and more vicious. He is constantly trying to gain mass appeal to his army. Always capturing our Princess Toadstool. She rules over the castle back a little ways. Me and my brother Luigi make it our job to protect her and the other toads from him. Now the dark stuff has consumed Bowser, making him impossible to defeat!"

" Right, well we can help with that. Working as a team seems to help with this stuff. Also what are the toads exactly?" I asked.

" The mushroom men. They prefer to be called Toads."

" Oh. We saw some on the way here. Interesting people you got."

" Yes, youa get used to them."

" I'm sure. But our mission is to free this planet of the darkness. You said you knew where it was?"

" Yeah. In Bowser's castle. But I think it may be too dangerous for you two." Mario said. I laughed.

" Dangerous? Oh please. We have handled many dangerous things in the past. WE can deal with this Mr. Plumber looking person."

" Ah forget plumbing. Ia just wear this causea it feels good. But, if youa insist, then let's go! This way! Careful of the Koopas and Goombas!" Mario flew up and zoomed off.

" How does he fly like that?" I wondered.

" And he is very happy and will let us help just like that? Did he mention the names of our enemies?" Lilac said.

" Eh. I think he did. Come on, it at least gives us a road to the guardian." I ran off, and Lilac followed.

We followed Mario to another castle. This one was dark grey and black. Lava surrounded the entrance. The three of us fought past more enemies. I burned down turtles and goombas. Lilac boosted and kicked her way through and Mario stomped and whacked them to the side. We ran over the bridge and came to the door. It was bright red, with a lizard like face built into the top of it.

" Who is that?" Lilac asked.

" Bowser. He has his likeness planted everywhere." Mario explained. We opened the doors. They were really heavy honestly. But I could handle it obviously. Inside was even weirder. Large statues of Bowser spewed fire. Large blocks moving across lava lakes. Why have that inside a building? Giant swinging spiked balls came down on us.

" What kind of a place is this?!" Lilac exclaimed.

" The kind of place Bowser likes! He should be in his throne room." There were more enemies cloaked in dark matter. Showing that we were getting close.

" So Mario. You really have no idea as to where these things came from?" I asked.

" Nope. I figured at first theya might've been from Sonic's world." He responded.

" You know Sonic?"

" I did for a little while. We had a big olympic sport event together. That was a lota fun. The form that the darkness took when theya first arrived made it seem like they could be from his world. But Imma not too sure."

" Sonic did tell us that their leader Mephiles was created on his planet before he was banished."

" Oha really? That woulda explain it. But their motives are still unknown to me."

" We know it's something about revenge and power. But yeah who knows."

" I've faced evil enemies like this in the past. So they aren'ta that bad. Just a lot of them appear."

" Definitely. Even for a guy like me it's a good amount."

" My god Iggy." Lilac said laughing. I might've blushed.

" W-what? It's true."

" Yeah of course. Where is this Bowser guy exactly?" Lilac asked.

" Just up ahead. His castles are fairly simple to navigate." Mario told us.

Finally we came to another large red door. Mario and Lilac pried it open. I helped by kicking attackers off the edge into the lava. Hero stuff. Past that, was a small bridge, a huge button sitting on the floor, and a throne. On the throne was a giant turtle. He was like the other koopas. Except a lot bigger. A big green, spiky shell covered his back. He eyed us fiercely.

" Argh! Mario! Why are you here?"

" To stopa you again! I saw you become corrupt by the darkness!" Mario told him.

" No! I'm not apart of this Mario! Leave me alone!"

" Ofa course you are! Youa always are!"

" No! I-" Before Bowser could finish, a dark figure walked up next to him. It looked like a hedgehog. With bright red eyes. It quickly melted into a puddle, slithering over to Bowser and latching onto him. " Agh! Get off!" Bowser struggled, trying to punch and throw off the goo. But it wouldn't budge. The turtle was consumed completely.

" What happened to him?" Lilac asked. I stared at the new Koopa King. He jumped up and roared. I had to cover my ears it was so loud.

" Oha no. Bowser's infected. Geta ready you two!" Mario exclaimed. I got into fighting stance. The Dark King slowly stomped toward us. He breathed out a geyser of fire. Lilac and Mario jumped out of the way. I simply stood there.

" Hahaha! Fire won't hurt me ya stupid turtle! It'll only empower me!" I summoned the fire back and shot it back at him. Bowser staggered back. Then he charged me hard. I wasn't prepared for that. I was slammed into the wall. I felt my ribs crack. I screamed in pain.

" Iggy! I'lla get you!" Mario jumped up and smashed down on top of Bowser. The King cried out in pain, clutching his head. Mario caught me as I fell. " Youa ok?" He asked.

" Well, my chest might be in pieces. But let's finish this guy first." I said through the pain.

" Here. This willa help." Mario offered me a yellow mushroom. The stem was white. " It should take away the pain. A new type ofa mushroom created by a scientist named Professor E Gadd." I took it and ate it. It tasted like lemons. I squished my face as I swallowed.

" Ugh. Thanks." I said. I did feel better. The pain in my chest stopped.

Lilac ran up and upper kicked Bowser. He was barely stunned. She tried again. He caught her leg and tossed her like an olympic throw ball. She went yelling across the room. I hoped up and caught her. Well, more like she slammed into me, causing both of us to stumble across the floor. But I still did it in a great way obviously. I stood up and so did she.

" How the heck do we stop him?" I asked. Dark Bowser hobbled forward, snarling flames.

" Normally that button helps me. The biga one." Mario pointed.

" Why would that be here? Seems like an inconvenience." Lilac wondered.

" This old turtle was never the best ata planning." Mario said. He jumped over Bowser. " Get to the other side of the bridge!" He smacked the button. Lilac and I ran to the other side just as the bridge itself collapsed. Bowser went falling down, screaming. He submerged in lava. I looked down.

" Is that it?" I waited for the goo around the castle to dissipate. But nothing happened. " What's going on?"

Then the whole place started to shake rapidly.

" OK _now_ what's going on?" I said quickly.

" Oha no. Nota this again." Mario said.

" Not what again?" Lilac asked. " Mario?" Down in the lava, something started to rise. It was big, black. It was a gigantic version of Bowser. He towered above us. He eyed Mario and roared again. I thought I wouldn't be able to hear for a while.

" WHAT is this? Why is this? What do we do Mario?" I stuttered. Hey, I wasn't scared! I just didn't expect a huge turtle to come at me is all.

" Overa here!" Mario cracked open the wall behind him. There was more path. At the far end was a lever. " We can use that!" He ran toward it.

" Jesus. He can just smash stone like that?" Lilac said. Bowser shot flames at us.

" Woah! Come on Lilac! To the switch!" I managed to leap over Bowser and ran after Mario, Lilac following. Apparently Giga Bowser is ok with wrecking his own fortress. He chased after us. Stepping and crushing through his own paths with ease. He swiped and breathed more fire. I jumped around, making sure not to fall into the lava below. I didn't want to see if it was good for me or not. I tried firing back flames of my own. They just simply bounced off him. Lilac was smarter. Instead of trying to attack and failing, she focused on running ahead. She used the crumbling platforms to boost her, leaping from them. She dragon boosted at the right times, gaining more distance. I accidentally slipped and almost fell. Lilac caught my hand.

" I know you're element is fire, but I don't wanna see you burn down there." She hauled me up.

" R-right. I didn't mean to." I continued on.

Eventually we reached Mario at the switch. It was a typical lever. Colored in red and black.

" Ok so we hit this switch and it'll stop that big monster?" I asked.

" Should. And it willa get me more sales than the Wii U." Mario said.

" What?"

" Nothing!" Mario pulled the level.

A panel in the ceiling opened. A huge yellow block dropped down, squashing Bowser. The Koopa King tried to lift it. At first I thought he was gonna succeed. But luckily it was too heavy. The turtle was flattened into the lava by the block. Now we were facing a black question mark imprinted on the block in front of us. Nothing else rose from the lava. I saw the darkness dissipate from the area.

" We did it! Nice!" Lilac said happily.

" Wahoo! Good work!" Mario cheered.

" Wait." I said. " Is he dead now? Wasn't he a king of this world?"

" Oh. He usually has ways of coming back. And not the only king. So it'sa fine. Don'ta worry we did it! Thanka you both for the help!" Mario started for another door across the room. " Now that this is dealt with. Ia need to check on Toadstool. Shea has a tendency to be in trouble at times like this. Gooda luck on your travels!" He waved and ran out the door.

" Well this has been, interesting." I said blankly.  
" Yeah, and hot." Lilac was sweating a lot, now that I noticed. " Can we go? I can't be in here much longer. Gonna have heat sickness." She headed for the door.

" Yeah. Even though I ain't affected." I followed.

We headed back to the rocket. The dark goo was removed from the desert too. These worlds were definitely cool places when they weren't infected. Me and Lilac hopped into the rocket. Same thing as before. I pressed the device from Alex, and we shot off into space. Looking back down I saw something. A red spot on the ground, near the white and pink castle. Mario waved to us as we flew off.

" What's a Wii U?" I asked.

" No clue." Lilac responded. " I've never seen one or been on one."

" You sure?"

" Yeah." We zoomed off. Heading to the next planet.

Part 4: Cartoons are real? And things will get red hot!

You might think that flying through the vast reaches of outer space could never get boring. For me, it was. First off, it wasn't like we were in perilous danger the whole time. The device Alex had given us made it so that we were always on course and never had to worry about controlling the ship or anything. So far it seemed like the ship was acting properly and was not going to crash land anywhere unwanted. Second off, we didn't have much to do. You think Wifi works in space? It doesn't. How am I supposed to watch my favorite TV shows and youtube videos with no connection? I'm not sure how the astronauts ever handled it. All I could do was eat out of the supply packs we had and gaze out into space. The food was ok, I guess? Just that weird food made specifically to be eatable in places without air. One thing I didn't realize until now was the fact that I was pretty tired. You don't hear about heroes getting exhausted often do you? As much as I hate to admit it, it is true. I rested my head on my chair's silver armrest. And dozed off.

I wasn't sure how long I had been out for. But when I came to, we were still flying through the darkness of space.

" Jesus. How faraway is this next planet?" I asked, watching the many planets and stars go by.

" You're asking me? I dunno. I think we both conked out. Yet here we are, still going." Lilac was looking through her window.

" You fell asleep also?" I asked, facing her.

" Yeah." She said blankly. " Do you think, we're causing trouble by doing this?"

" Trouble?"

" Uh huh. Since we're basically aliens coming to these planets. Leaving almost as soon as we arrive."

" What would that have to do with anything?"

" Well, do you think the inhabitants are gonna be worried about this? Aliens are a mystery to most civilizations right? So, they could send out squads to look for more of us. And if that happens, and they meet with other planets… Like Mobius and the Pipe filled world." I saw what she meant. It was a possibility.

" I see. But I don't think it's really a worry. So far nothing has happened. We're doing this so that these planets are no longer corrupted and turned evil, right?"

" Mhm. I was just thinking about it. But, what is Mephiles' world even like? Alex knew where it was and so did Sonic? That was because they came from Mobius like Mephiles did. But if no one can stop Mephiles for this long, how are we two supposed to do it? He could be very powerful, especially if he's been going for this long."

" Yeah well… I think we still got this. Even if it seems hard. As long as we try and do our best, we can win! Because why not? I know you're strong and so am I!" I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. It was kinda hard to be positive when a threat faced us like this. But I was sure we could make it work out. " These next two planets will be cleansed and then Mephiles should be weak enough to stop!" I said heroically. Lilac smiled.

" Heh. I'm glad you're here Iggy. I think we got this." I looked back out the window. Only to see more of space and _not_ because I was blushing.

After some more minutes, the next planet came into view. It was similarly colored to the other planets, green and light blue. Our ship rocketed into the atmosphere. I saw a lot of water, with only some islands dotted here and there. For a second I thought we had come back to Eurashia. But then I saw the main land. Four pieces of land attached by thin strips, covered in towns. At the far end a large volcano stretched upward. Our rocket landed on the patch of land farthest away. I hopped out, happy to be somewhere. I was even happier to see the surrounding area. Soft, green, billowing grass stretched around a good distance. Tall healthy trees rose above us, their branches filled with leaves. A little brown hut laid hidden in the nearby clump of trees. A small, grey stone road led to a garden patch, a large boat, and a big building that looked like a dice.

" Oh wow! This place looks so fresh!" Lilac said happily. " Is is really corrupted?" That was a good question. Everywhere in the immediate area looked perfectly fine.

" I ain't sure. But we should check farther. There was a city past that dice house if I remember from our fly over." I pointed. Lilac nodded.

" Ok. But to get there we need to go through the garden and flower patch." That seemed easy enough. What could some vegetables do to us?

Apparently we didn't need to enter the city and the pieces of food could do a lot. At first, it wasn't bad. A bunch of carrots, potatoes, and onions laid in the ground growing. I tried not to step on them. A hero couldn't harm other's crops! But a hero should also expect an attack at anytime. Which I didn't. The ground became to rumble.

" W-what's that?" Lilac said. I surveyed the vegetables. Were they rising from the ground? A large carrot, an onion and a potato climbed out of the ground. They had vicious looking eyes and teeth. They had two bulky arms protruding from their sides. The carrot eyed us and laughed.

" Who are these dunder heads? Y'all aren't supposed to be here 'less you wanna get infected!"

" Infected? I asked. " You mean the dark goo? We can help stop it!"

" Oh please. So did them cup kids. An' they died tryin' to save us!" Said the potato.

" Cup..?" This place was weirder than I thought.

" Yeh, ya don' know Cupface? He's been a menace for quite some time. Good thing him and his brother are gone. Murdered by the new and improved Diceman!" Boasted the carrot.

" Murdered? Why?" Asked Lilac.

" Because King Dice got really scary when he was infected! Started to go tyrannical over all of Inkwell Aisle! No one could stop him so we joined him! Even the Devil couldn't match! Cuphead nearly got him, but we last heard from him when he said he was gonna finish this once and for all! He hasn't come back from Inkwell Hell!" The onion said crying. I found that mildly ironic.

" Can you bring us there?" Lilac offered.

" Nope! He can see everything and we have orders to kill any intruders! Now die!" The carrot said.

Great, we would be attacked by killer garden food. But then it got weirder. Just as me and Lilac got prepared, large vines shot out of the ground. It pierced the onion, and squeezed the potato. They both struggled but couldn't move. They stopped moving altogether.

" Hehehehe. Carrit, didja really think I'd let you take all the fun?" A voice reverberated from the ground. Behind us, a ginormous flower popped out of the dirt. It was a yellow carnation. He had the same crazy eyes, teeth and arms as the carrot. His tongue swung wildly around. " It's been very hard to get food nowadays. Let me at 'em!"

Carrit let out a sigh of anger. " Cagney! They are mine! Get lost and find other food!"

" No can do bucko. I already feasted on that blimp lady and the frogs at the boat! And, I'm, still hungry!"

" Fine. But then let's do this together!" Carrit said. Cagney rubbed his hands together.

" Sounds like a plan!" The carnation shot out tendrils of green vines at us, and Carrit raised his hand, launching several carrot bombs.

I rolled out of the way of a vine, jumping on top of the next. Lilac spun around, whacking away some of the carrots. But more came. I ran up Cagney's arm, dodging spikes that blossomed from beneath me. I reached his face and punched him hard, my fist full of flame. I hit the ground as the carnation staggered back.

" Ahh! I'll get you!" He penetrated the ground with his hands, causing vines to shoot up from the dirt. I moved out of the one, but another caught me. I was squeezed tight, and the spikes cutting into my skin. I screamed. I saw Lilac. She ran at the evil carrot, dodging and smashing incoming carrot projectiles. She rolled into a dragon boost, ricocheting off Carrit's face. He put his hands up and yelled out in pain. Lilac saw me.

" Iggy, hold on!" She ran to me. I wasn't sure what else I would be doing other than holding on. Lilac kicked the tendril that held me. It recoiled and I fell into her arms. If this were another situation, I would've enjoyed being held by her. But not now. I got up.

" Thanks. Let's end these two nature monsters." I said.

" Agreed." Lilac charged Cagney Carnation and me Carrit.

I let out a wave of fire and burnt down more carrots.

" I'll hypnotize you!" Carrit opened his eyes, and a third eye opened. It let out a swirling vortex. I hopped out of the way.

" That's gross. Won't work on me." I boosted myself upwards, kicking him in the face, leaving behind a slash of flames. This time Carrit caught on fire.

" No!" He fell to the ground, now turned into freshly cooked carrot. Lilac was swinging from vine to vine, avoiding Cagney's attack. She landed on the flower's face. She kicked downward, forcing the carnation to the ground.

" Agh! Fine, you win! I know when to retreat!" Cagney exclaimed. He dug into the earth and disappeared. I helped Lilac up.

" That was interesting." I said.

" Yeah. Are you ok?"

" Uh." I put my hand to my bleeding arm. " I should be fine."

" No you won't be. Hold on." Lilac checked around. " Maybe that brown house has someone who can help." She started for it. Before I could do anything. A voice called to us.

" You two! The red kitten and purple, er, dog. A word please!" A tall man walked over. He was wearing a purple suit, white gloves and a black pair of dance shoes. His head was a floating dice. " Are you two the ones who started this fray?" He gestured to the surrounding ruined garden.

" Uh, maybe." I said. I remembered what the onion and the other two had mentioned about a King Dice that had messed up everything. " Who are you?" The stranger laughed.

" Ya don't know? Maybe ya really are new here. Call me Dice. Y'all came from space didja? That's hilarious." Lilac came back over.

" First off I'm a dragon. Second, are you that dice that these guys were so afraid of?"

" Ah that. Well, yes I am! You see, when the darkness came, I couldn't fight it off. I tried so very hard to! But, when it consumed me, I realized: I can't beat it! So I let it take me, it made me stronger! Now I can show this cursed Aisle what it means to mess with King Dice!" He laughed maniacally.

" You are another crazy person huh? Fine, we'll stop you." I said, stepping up.

" Yes you can try! I am more powerful than you realize!" He snapped his fingers. Out of seemingly nowhere, hundreds of cards flew at us. They cut us all over our body. Me and Lilac crumpled to the ground. " Ya see? I cannot be defeated now! You two shouldn't of come here. Now you die." King Dice stalked towards us. Up close I could see the darkness swelling around him. I braced to be cut again.

But I wasn't cut. Instead Dice moaned and stepped back. I looked up. A blue projectile had hit Dice in the chest. He was looking behind us.

" What? NO! I killed you! How are you back?" I turned and saw who he was talking about. A kid, about my height, in a red overalls, black pants, and a blue scarf wrapped around his face was standing, his left hand in a finger gun position. Did I mention his head was a white cup? He edged closer.

" You never killed me Dice. I simply made you think I was done for. You are pretty stupid aren't you? I won't allow you to hurt anyone else!" The Cup kid ran over to us, and knelt down, offering two vials of green liquid. " Here. Take this, it'll heal your wounds." I didn't know what it was, but I wasn't about to argue. Lilac and I took the drinks and swallowed them. I felt better immediately, the cuts closing. I got up with Lilac.

" Thanks. Now can we end this guy?" I asked.

" YOU wanna kill King Dice? He's stronger than any of us." Cuphead said. Dice laughed.

" You really think you can kill me now? I stopped you and your pathetic Mugman before, I can do it again!" Cuphead growled.  
" Don't you dare bring that up! I hid because I was ready to give up. Maybe you had won. After we stopped the Devil I had assumed you would vanish along with him. But nope. Here ya are. I can't let you hurt these critters. Not now. They seem pretty strong, so maybe together we can finally end you?" Cuphead faced me hopefully. The kind of face he had on displayed such hardship and fear, and because he complimented me, made me decide I would help him.

" Sure Cupdude. Lilac?"

" Of course." She readied. So did I.

" Oh how cute! Y'all think you can beat me now. This should be fun!" King Dice snapped his fingers. More cards appeared. He threw them at us.

" Cup, how do we stop him?" I asked.

" It's not easy. You have to win in a game of endurance."

" Endurance?"

" Yeah. Just keep attacking. Destroy anything that he throws at you." We dodged as the cards came too close.

Me and Lilac charged, Cuphead shot more blue lasers. I dived and turned to avoid getting sliced. Lilac jumping up ward and boosting toward Dice. As we got close, he exploded in a puff of smoke, reappearing a few feet away.

" You'll have to try harder than that to hit me!" He cackled. We tried multiple times to reach him, but every time he would simply teleport out of the way. Straight up attacking wouldn't work.

" Ugh. We need a plan." I said.  
" So much for endurance. Got anything?" Cuphead ran up next to us. Lilac concentrated.

" What if one of us got his focus, and then one of us climbs that tree. See that tire? Drop it on him, get him stuck. Third person can finish him then." I decided to go with it because there was no time for anything else.

" Sure. Cuphead? Can you distract him?" I asked.

" Trapping him, then getting him? You got it pal!" Cuphead winked at us, and ran at King Dice.

" Ok, I'll climb the tree. Once I say now you get ready cause I'll be dropping the tire." Lilac told me, and dashed ahead.

Cuphead fired multiple shots into Dice's chest. They hit, but it didn't seem to affect him that much. He simply chuckled and threw more cards. Cuphead flipped around in the air, sniping cards out of the air with great speed. It was impressive. But it wouldn't last. He was gonna get overwhelmed. More cards came, catching him off guard. They cut into his skin, blood dripping down his scarf and overalls. I tried to help. I swung at Dice, only to miss again. Up above, Lilac was balancing herself on the tree branch. She grabbed the tired swinging from a rope down below it. She unfastened the rope and prepared to throw the tire. I got into a finisher's stance.

" NOW!" Lilac yelled and tossed the tire. With Cuphead fring, Dice didn't notice what was dropping down on him. The middle of the tire slipped around him. King Dice screamed and fell to the floor struggling.

" AGH! Get this off!" He rolled along the ground. I walked over to him.

" How sad it is when great people fall to a tire huh? How tough are you now?" I lit my hands on fire. I pummeled King Dice. He stopped moving. I was gonna hit him again when Cuphead grabbed my arm.

" Stop! We can't kill him! Killing a murderer when it isn't necessary only creates more problems."

" And it's not necessary right now?"

" NO! I-I can deal with him, and the police. Just please, don't kill him." Cuphead's face was sad. I looked again at the scarf he wore. I remembered what was said about his brother.

" OK. I won't." I extinguished the flames around my palms and lowered my hands to my sides.

Lilac jumped down from the tree and ran up to us.

" Great job! Now is the darkness finished?" We looked around. The goo from Dice had indeed dissipated. That was good.

" Yeah I think so." Cuphead said. " But, uh. You guys might wanna leave."

" Why?"  
" If the locals see you, they might find you a threat. I can't have more panicking. Ya get it?"

" Right. That's fine. As long as the goo is gone. We can move on, right Iggy?" Lilac asked.

" Yeah, sure." I faced our cuppy friend. " But first. I'm sorry about your brother. I know what it's like to lose people you care about. But I do know he would be proud." Cuphead began to tear up.

" T-thanks. I've been protecting the innocent ever since. It was Mugman's last wish. I'll never give up again. Thank you for the help strangers." I slapped my face.

" We never introduced each other? Right. Well even if you might've heard our names already. I'm Ignatius the cat and this is Sash Lilac the water dragon." I told him. Cuphead studied us.

" Animals huh? Don't see many of those who are intelligent enough to speak. You came from space?"

" Yeah. We have a self-proclaimed mission to stop this goo stuff. We have one more stop and then we can fight the big guy controlling all of this."

" Really? It definitely seems like you can do it. Good luck on that! I have to stay and help my people. But if I find a way I'll reach you again so I can repay the favour!"

" You don't need to. We can do it." Lilac came up to me, she looked out to the horizon. I saw groups of people heading toward us. " We should also leave now."

" Dangit." I said. " We didn't discover the whole place. Ah well."

We waved bye to Cuphead and ran back to the rocket. As we took off, I saw him with the other towns folk. Who were all apparently different kinds of objects brought to life. Cuphead was talking to all of them at once, getting them to calm down. They gasped at the body of King Dice. Some celebrated. I smiled as the clouds obstructed my view.

" What a tacky and odd place." I exclaimed.

" Yup. But it was nice to help out. Even if it ruined my appetite for vegetables." Lilac said.

I laughed. " Yeah. I wonder if the next planet will have more of this weird stuff?"  
" I guess we will see." Lilac said. We blasted off into space once more.

Part 5: Scary men cloaked in black and things get changed.

Were we making this too easy? Simply traveling to entire worlds in the galaxy, and helping them out? Perhaps we did make it look easy. But hey, you remember who I am. I'm Ignatius! I tend to make a lot of things look easy. Besides, isn't that a blessing? If we know what we are doing? We only have one more planet to go and then it's show time! It has been rather interesting, seeing these different lands. I mean, Eurashia is pretty nice, but it's cool to see new things also! I'd never seen a human before, or a giant talking dice.

" Yo Lilac. How do you feel about all this? Do you enjoy it?" I asked her. We were flying to our next location. The stars whizzing past us, making a blur of white light.

" Oh it's been very cool! These new places are amazing! Such vast spaces we never even knew about!" She exclaimed.

" Well yeah. Vast spaces makes sense, since we're in space."

" Hehe, not what I meant."

" I know!"

" But. I still worry about this Mephiles. How can someone be so powerful as to corrupt entire worlds? We've seen what this goo stuff does to these places. Once it takes over, it doesn't go away easily." Lilac looked worriedly out the window. More planets blazed past.

" Lilac." I put a hand on her shoulder. " I wouldn't worry. Look. Sure, this dude does seem strong. But guess what? _We_ are stronger! It don't matter if he has taken over these worlds, since we put an end to them! We've also been getting help which only makes it better! Now, I would've been perfectly fine doing it myself. But! You aren't alone in this! I'm here, and whoever is waiting for us on this next planet. Assuming there is someone there. But sure there will be! So worry not dear dragon! I am a hero! And I say we will finish this mission on a good note!" I said proudly. Lilac smiled a little bit.

" You're right. We have been doing well. Thanks."  
" Of course!"  
" Yeah. Hey." She pointed to the window on my side. " Is that our next stop?" I looked in her direction. Our ship was moving in. A water of blue and grey. Grey? We entered the atmosphere, the ship rumbling.

" I think so. We're coming down."

Once the clouds cleared away, I saw our landing point. An island town. It was circular. White and blue buildings wound there way up to the point in the middle, where a large watch tower stood. Down at the island's base, ships were leashed to docks. Balloons floated in the air, hundreds of them. The whole place seemed to give off a sense of relaxation and happiness.

" Woah. This looks nice!" I said. Lilac had an uncertain look on her face.

" I wouldn't be too sure. You remember Inkwell Aisle? Also I had that same thought when I saw Shang Mu for the first time. It gave off a similar sense. I had to go there under intense circumstances months later. It wasn't as fun. Besides that, there was also Zao Land. A theme park built into Shang Mu. That was fun, until Merga's allies attacked. What I'm saying is, be careful."

" Jeez, alright. Why you gotta be so serious?"

" Dunno, just feel like there's trouble. Otherwise why would we be here?"  
" That is true." We landed down near the docks and hopped out. There was no one outside. " Where is everyone?"

" Probably hiding. Let's look around." Lilac began for the town. My stomach grumbled.

" Hey, uh. Can we get something to eat?" I asked. She stopped.

" Really? Now?"

" Yes. A hero needs his food!"

" Ugh." Lilac face palmed. That didn't bother me at all. " Fine. But I don't know if there's any restaurants around here that'll just let us in." I shrugged.

" Perhaps. But we could always steal."

" No! We won't make this worse by stealing!"

" Aw! Fine. But if I have to I will. My tummy is suffering." Lilac shook her head, I saw her smile.

" Just, come on." We walked into the town.

It honestly looked like a birthday had overtaken the whole place. Not only were the balloons floating around above us, but there were massive colorful signs everywhere. Advertising things to buy for a great party! What party? Was this the kind of town to just have fun all the time? With no other worries? If it was a party, there was no one here to enjoy it. We found a building labeled ' Fishy Flies.' It was apparently open.

" Can we try this one?" I asked Lilac.

" Fish? Definitely! Is it a food place?"  
" I think? We should just check." I opened the door and let Lilac in. Inside was a cubical room, with thirteen tables, an order register, and a kitchen door. Seemed like a restaurant to me. I went up to the register. " Yo! Anyone here?" No response. " I thought this place was open."

" Is there anyone in the kitchen?" Lilac asked.

" Uh, lemme check."

" Iggy!"

" What?" I walked into the back kitchen. Nope. Nothing. Just some fish being hung up. " Dang it. Who leaves fish behind? Criminals." I said and went back to the main room. Lilac was looking at something on a table. " What's up?"

" How did this get here?" There was a plate of steaming hot fish on it. With some seasoning and cold water. Fork and knife included.

" Huh?" I inspected it. I poked it, then popped it into my mouth. It tasted insanely good!

" Iggy! Why would you just do _that?_ " Lilac exclaimed. I licked my fingers.

" Well. First off I'm hungry. And two. You don't leave good food hanging around. Whoever did this was doing me a service!" I said.

" It could've been poison."

" Hmm, naw. I don't taste poison."

" Poison meant to taste good? So you eat it and then it kills you?"

" Um. Let's hope not." I drank my definitely not poison water. It also tasted normal. Hopefully it wasn't normal tasting poison.

After I was done drinking. I put the glass back down.

" What now?"  
" Not sure. Maybe we could find out why this place is empty."

" Oh yeah. Ok!" We began for the front door. Just as Lilac was about to grasp the handle, we heard footsteps. I managed to turn around in time to get socked in the face. I tumbled over and onto the ground. My vision blurred. I saw Lilac get thrown against the wall. She dragon boosted. I heard a man's voice groan, and the wall crack. I got up slowly, my head throbbing in pain. We were being attacked by five humans. They looked like Mario, except bigger, more muscular, and had blue and white mafia suits on. Their skin pulsed with the dark goo.

" Y-you." I mumbled. " Did you do something to this town?" They didn't answer. Two advanced on Lilac, the other three on me. Why did I get more? Eh, I can handle it. I put my hands together, thrusting them downward. An arc of flames was released along the floor. The first guy was hit. He burst into flames and stumbled into the mafia behind him. They both collapsed. The third managed to get close to me. He Pummeled me in the chest, then slammed me into the ground. I could barely move. How were they so powerful? I tried to stand, but my agonizing pain wouldn't let me. I flipped around, dodging a kick, facing upwards. The mafia stood over me, laughing. His voice deep and gruffy. He raised his arm for another strike. A boot kicked him upside the head, sending him off to the side. Lilac offered her hand to me.

" Get up. We aren't done yet." I groggily accepted. I could still concentrate? Must've been the fish I had eaten. Food saved me again! There were three mafia left. The other two lay against the wall, unconscious. The other three rushed us. Lilac jumped at the wall, spinning around mid air then kicking off of it. She charged a dragon boost, and smashed into a mafia man. They both hit the wall. I side stepped an incoming punch. Retaliating with a flaming punch to the chin. The man staggered back. The other came at me. I pushed him back with my foot. The two collided. Falling over each other. I let them ablaze. At this point the restaurant was ruined. Tables overturned, the register smashed. I fell over. Lilac caught me. She was bleeding and so was I.

" Hey. You ok?" She asked.

" N-not really…" It was definitely harder to focus now. Lilac looked towards the kitchen.

" Hold up. I think I might know what will work. She propped me against a chair, with complaining coming from me. She dashed into the kitchen. See, here's the thing. Being hurt and sitting on a chair in a decimated fish store while someone got me something to eat was not my idea of fun. I was sure heroes didn't do this. But at that moment, all I cared about was getting my strength back. And since it was Lilac who was helping me, not so bad! Lilac came back out ten minutes later with a new plate of fish. This one seemed a bit burnt. " Here. Since the last one healed you, this should do it too." She offered it to me, and some water.

" What about you?" I asked.

" I can make more. Just eat." I did eat. It wasn't as good. But again, I wasn't about to care. I ate that whole thing in seconds. A minute later my wounds closed up, my head stopped throbbing and the world wasn't spinning anymore. I waited as Lilac ate her own fish.

" You cook?" I asked.

" Not really. I only started recently. Since it was so hard for me and the girls to get food from markets. I figured it would be easier if we bought ingredients and then made our own meals."

" Ah I see. Well, from my heroic perspective, it's not bad! Pretty good in fact!" I told her.

" Heh, thanks. You feel better?"

" Yup! You?"

" Actually, yeah. This stuff works!"  
" Somehow."

" Well let's not question it right?"  
" Uh huh." We finished eating and got up.

" Ready to go? The source of the substances must still be here. Let's find it." Lilac said.

" Yeah. Let's go." I replied. Lilac opened the door and I ran out.

" This is getting boring. A hero needs some fun! Come on Ms. Heropants!" I exclaimed. I dash ahead.

" Pfft. Don't go too far." Lilac ran after me.

We blazed through the town. I boosted myself up onto the building tops, leaping between them. Lilac zipped through the alleyways and streets. I shot out fire, popping as many balloons as I could. We wound our way up to the watchtower. I didn't stop and open the door. We'd already done that. I charged my fist as I closed in, smashing a hole in the big oak double doors. I stopped and looked around. There was a spiral staircase leading upwards. Black goo dripped down the red bricks from the top floor. Lilac came up next to me.

" Did you seriously have to break down the doorway?"

" Nevermind that. Up there!" I pointed up at the top.

" More of the stuff coming down. Is it the source?"  
" Must be. What are we waiting for?" I ran up the steps, Lilac following. The top of the watchtower was typical. The surrounding walls made of glass. A control for the search light in the middle. Except attached to that and the ceiling, was a black heart. It beated, releasing more goo each time. Two mafia men stood behind it. Playing a game of checkers.

" Hey guys!" I called. " Who's winning the game?" They both looked up. One stood, knocking over the table. They ran around the heart and charged us.

" Sorry to interrupt your game. But we gotta get this stuff off of everything." Lilac upper kicked, sending the man into the ceiling. As he came down she hopped up and kicked him again. This time he went flying into the glass, breaking it. He fell over the edge. I rolled to the side as the second mafia swiped at me.

" Oh you wanna cat swipe? Buddy I am a cat!" I clawed at him, giving him a nasty cut on the cheek. He touched it, surprised. I shot out a geyser of flame, melting him. He settled to dark and red mush on the ground. Me and Lilac faced the heart.

" Should we just hit it?" Lilac wondered.

" Why not." I jumped and punched it hard. It popped, spraying goo everywhere. The heart shriveled up. The goo began to dissipate. I wiped it off of me. " Ew."

" Alright. That works." Lilac said.

" Of course it did. Back to the ship then?"

" Yup!" We turned back for the exit.

I was thinking heading to the final planet was gonna be our next thing on the agenda. We'd run back to the rocket and be fine. So naturally that didn't happen. A laugh echoed through the tower. In front of us a black and purple portal opened. Out of it hovered a hedgehog. He looked similar to Sonic. His quills stuck upward, his hands and feet calcified. Like he'd mixed them with crystals. His body surged with the dark goo. He had no mouth, his eyes red and black.

" Here you two are. You are the ones causing so much trouble for me. You've been lucky so far. But now your heroism ends."  
" Are you Mephiles?" I asked. " Gosh you look terrible. Have you tried acne medicine?"

" Quiet! You are nothing compared to my power! The two of you alone aren't enough to stop me!"  
" We will stop you! For all the things you've done!" Lilac said.

" Unlikely." Mephiles spread his hands. " Now drown in darkness!" Spirals of black mist shot towards us. It engulfed me. I couldn't move or talk. My vision darkened, and I fell unconscious.

Part 6: I'm here alone. And I need help to make the final blow.

I woke up in a cage, floating over a valley.

" Agh. What the heck just happened? Where am I?" I asked as I sat up. I looked around. " Whoa. This must be it." The valley wasn't your typical green, lushious valley. Instead, it was entirely covered in the dark goo. Large rolling hills, massive caves and rock maws, swarming with moving darkness of black and purple. The sky was pitch black, but somehow I could see. I wasn't sure if it was artificial light or natural. I all knew, was I had to find Lilac. I searched my cage. It was a simple barred cage. Only I was in there. " Ok. Mephiles. Why would you bring me right to your own planet? You're an idiot." I shook my head and stood up. " Now. About bustin' outta here…" I thought for a minute. " Well. There's always one thing I could try. Let's see if it works." I held up my hands, igniting them. I thrust them downwards, smashing the floor beneath me. Luckily, it broke. Unluckily, I was hundreds of feet in the air. I don't get why he would put me here of all places. I fell, falling faster toward the ground. The air was cold, cutting my skin as I dropped. I turned in mid air, preparing to land.

I hit the ground and didn't break any bones. But I was sinking into the ground.

" What?! Oh come on!" I exclaimed. I didn't realize that the very nature of this planet wouldn't allow for me to roam freely here. I wasn't one with the darkness, so I would be consumed it I didn't try something. I sunk down further. The dark goo pulsed over my body, it felt sticky, and very cold. It went up to my chest. My arms went under, I couldn't move at all. I struggled, I really did. I tried lighting my body on fire, to melt the darkness maybe, that didn't work. I tried simply moving upwards, to claw a way up. Nope. The goo was up to my chin now. I closed my eyes. Was this how I die? So close to saving the universe, but failing? Would Lilac die here also? Because I dragged her into this? If I had never invited her to the mountains, then we wouldn't be here. Maybe we would still be happy. My head sank under the goo, and I waited to die.

Now, lemme ask you a question. Did you _honestly think_ I would die here? Really? Whether you did or not, doesn't matter. Fact is, I did not. I was saved! I would like to tell you I burst out myself. In a glory of fire, evaporating the goo all around me. Too bad, it wasn't like that. Instead, I felt someone grab my head. I was pulled upwards, and flung onto a hillside. I felt soft grass blades touch me. Grass? I felt weak, very weak. The goo had been sucking away at my life force. I dizzily sat up, and looked around for my saviour. Standing next to me, was the figure of a hedgehog. Oh no…

" M-Mephiles… I'll…" I tried to stand. I toppled over sideways. The person caught me in their arms.

" Woah! Chill dude I ain't Mephiles!" He righted me. He offered me what looked a ring. " Here. You should take this. It tends to heal you when you're weak. Which it seems you are." I didn't know if this was trickery. But I took it anyway. I held the ring. It glowed faintly. I felt the dizziness and pain in my body go away, dissipate. Within seconds I was back to new again. I tossed the ring and caught it.

" Wow! I'm actually back! Thanks man!" I turned to the hedgehog. It was Sonic. He gave me a thumbs up.

" Heh, no problem dude! This place honestly sucks."

" You bet it does. I've only been here like ten minutes and I already almost died. Wait a second. How did you get here?" I asked. Last I saw of him he was on Mobius. Sonic smiled.

" Well, once I did a few run throughs of Little Planet, I thought you and your girlfriend could use some help. Taking on the universe and multiple planets isn't easy with just two of you. So I juiced over to my good buddy Tails' workshop. There I asked him if he had finished a new machine he was working on. Coincidentally, he had been constructing a machine to create portals to this planet. Actually, it was something that had been in his mind for a while. But he never built it till recently. And as you can see, he let me use it. And here I am! I spawned in a few miles away. Thankfully I wasn't in as bad of a spot as you were. I saw you fall and ran over. I managed to yank you out before I was sucked in. Thanks to my super speed!" Sonic pointed a thumb at himself and smirked.

" Dang. I can't say I'm not impressed. That's some speed ya got." I said.

" Yup! You feel ok?" Sonic asked.

" Yeah. Thanks to your ring. How does it work anyway?"  
" I don't even know man. I just use 'em. Ask Tails for that kinda stuff." 

" Heh, alright. If we make it out alive. Speaking of which. When you came over to me. Did you see Lilac by any chance?" He shook his head.

" Naw. If I did I was moving too fast to find her."  
" Then we need to locate her!" I exclaimed.

" Yeah. I know. Where can we even check?"

" Hmmm. You know what? You should know this, being a hero too right? We can find her as we go. Like run around, see what we can see. Ya know?" I asked him. Sonic glanced around, then nodded.

" Alright! I like your style. Just be careful, the only safe places are these weird grassy hills." He gestured to the ground. I took notice of it again. It looked and acted like normal grass, but it was black, like the sky.

" Huh. Yeah I don't like the feel of this." I said.

" I don't either. And when I don't like something, I move. Come on, let's juice!" Sonic charged up his feet, and blasted off toward the large dark hills. I let out a laugh, and followed him.

To be one hundred percent honest, this planet was _annoying!_ It was enough that I almost fell into goo pools almost every few feet, and Sonic had to keep saving me. But then we were constantly getting attacked! Minions of the darkness, I guessed. Large amalgamations. Ones with two reds eyes, and bodies made of pure black and purple. They formed from the lakes and surged toward us. Even though there were a lot of them, they weren't a challenge for me and Sonic. We punched, melted, and spin dashed our way past them. It was good, to obliterate so many. Just we had to watch out in case any goo landed on us. Sonic used almost all of his rings to get us safely to our destination. That being a large piece of land floating above the main ground. Large tendrils of blue light emanated from it. At first I didn't see how we could get up there. Neither of us could fly. Then I realized where we shooting for specifically. A tower that connected the island's bottom to the mainland. Seemed we were to infiltrate there and reach the top.

For some reason, large mouthed creatures were attached to the front door. They were only a head, with a spine they hung from. They snapped and spat out poison. Sonic ran up, sliding under the on coming bite. He spun around and cut the cord, stomping on the creatures head. I leaped upward, smashing back down on the other's head with flaming feet. With them out of the way, we entered the tower. More stairs to go up. I was beginning to dislike towers that were colored in black. Anyway, we raced up the winding staircase. Dodging more minions as they came. First off, they came at us from _out of the wall._ How exactly? Second, we didn't have much time to mess around. I had to find Lilac. If she was stuck like I was, and the goo was sucking the life out of her… no. I had to save her.

Finally we bust out the top of the tower, through a trapdoor. In front of us was a set of ruins. Large pillars shot up into the sky, some bases scattered here and there. In the middle, a circle was implanted in the ground. I then realized that there was a person on top of one of the pillars. Lilac was being held captive in a hexagonal crystal. The blue light bleeding out of her and into the circle.

" LILAC!" I ran over to the column. I hit it with an ignited hand. The pillar fell over. But the crystal stayed the way it was. " Sonic! Help me get her!" I asked frantically. He jogged over, hitting the crystal with a spin attack. Nothing. He bounced off, landing back on the dark ground.

" Agh! It's not working!" He exclaimed.

" Thanks genius. But how do we free her?" I said.

" I dunno!" Sonic hopped up.

" HAHAHA! Were you expecting to allow her to escape? No." Mephiles formed out of the largest pillar, across from us. He had his arms crossed. " I cannot let such insignificant beings hold back my return." I faced him, angry.

" _Insignificant?_ You honestly believe I am insignificant?" I stepped toward him. " Gosh are you stupid! Me and Lilac stopped your entire charade! Us! With only a bit of help we managed to stop all four of your pathetic minions and travel across space while doing so! We are not small. You are just a selfish bastard!" I charged him. " I will NOT let you hurt Lilac!" I jumped up and attempted to kick him.

" Iggy don't!" Sonic warned. Too late. My foot didn't even connect. A wave of black energy pushed me backwards. I rolled on the ground hard. I got up, and tried again. Same thing. He just pushed me back, each time I hurt a little more.

" Why can't I hit him?!" I exclaimed. Mephiles eyed me.

" This is why you are the inadequate one. I won't just sit here and take your blows. I am on my homeland. It is hard for me to die here. The amount of power to do so is far out of your range." I was shaking with rage at this point. I wouldn't fail this close to the end.

" Iggy. Chill out. We aren't gonna be able to do anything like this." Sonic told me. He ran up next to me. I didn't like it, but he was right. What would we do?

It seemed hopeless at that point. Mephiles was floating over us, ready to kill us. Lilac was enamored. Unable to free herself. It was just me and Sonic. I thought the end really was here. Though, you forget one thing. And don't lie to me, you did. That I am a hero. I got up and faced Mephiles.

" Hey dumbie. You don't realize something do you?"

" What? Don't talk to me like that!" He said to me. I continued. Around us, the island began to rumble.

" You seriously don't understand. I am Ignatius. I am a hero, but more than that. I am a warrior. I have conquered many things. An entire armada dedicated to enslaving worlds. Taking down a clan attempting to change my world into their image. Bringing my friend back from death. I even saved Lilac when she was all psycho from something called an Omega Biometal. That took two years!" I raised my hands. The shaking intensified. " Basically what I'm saying is: You won't kill me. I have done too much, helped too many people, to die. I can defeat you, I know I can. I am a hero." Three portals opened up around us. People jumped out of them. I looked at Lilac. " If any of that doesn't matter. Then one thing certainly does. One thing I haven't done yet. I haven't even married her. Say whatchu want, but I am going to make it happen. I swear it. Lilac is everything to me. I wouldn't be here without her." I faced my enemy again. " And if you think you can stop me and her from living happily, then you are wrong! We will be happy, and we will discard this disgusting planet. I must defeat you!" I raised my hands higher. A white glow formed around me. It got so intense everyone covered their eyes. When it cleared, I was a new body. My fur now a golden yellow, like the surface of the sun. My eyes a shield of heavenly white light. I boiled like the sun, like the hopes of everyone. My allies came up next to me. Sonic, Mario, Cuphead, and a new person. A girl fitted in a purple dress, and a big top hat. I didn't know who this hat kid was, but I didn't mind.

I pointed at Mephiles. " _We are going to take you down. For the universe, and for LILAC!"_ All five of us charged. At that point it was a complete blur. I remember we absolutely wrecked him. I attacked him so fast, with thousands of flame kicks, punches, and flaming geysers, and waves. Any attack he did dodge, Sonic cut into him with a spin dash. Mario stomped on him, Cuphead fired his finger lasers, charging up for bigger shots. He even released a giant laser from his head. The newcomer, hat kid, used an umbrella. Boy did that do a lot. Her hits sent poor Mephiles flying. She even used different elements, like freeze and time stop. Allowing the rest of to get in more hits. Safe to say, he was nothing but a puddle by the time we were done with him. I remember landing back down, my power almost out. I kicked the puddle away. Scattering it out off the side of the island.

Wow that was a lot. I don't even know where I got that power from. I looked around. The valleys below began to lose their darkness. It was slow, but it was happening. The sky turned a nice orange color. I turned to my friends.

" Well. Thanks for the help." I toppled over again. I need to stop doing that. Someone caught me. This time it wasn't Sonic.

" Iggy. Are you ok? Very next time I see you and you are almost drained of all your energy. When aren't you gonna be in danger?" Lilac asked as she propped me up. I stared at her.

" Y-you… you're out of the thing. How..?" I melted into her arms. I will admit I started crying. Lilac hugged me back.

" Iggy! I managed to get out after Mephiles was defeated. I guess the crystal was shattered after he dissipated. Iggy, you did it!" She squeezed me tighter. Normally I wouldn't approve of this. But right now I was too happy to care. I just cried for a few more moments into her shoulder. She was ok, I had saved her! After I finished, I faced my new friends.

" And thank you all. I can't begin to think what would've happened if you didn't help us. How did y'all get here anyway?"  
" Ah. That was easy! Sonic here sent a signal to our planets. We were able to form portals our own way!" Cuphead explained. " I for example used an illegal potion the old Devil used to have!"

" Yup! Ia used a secret warp pipe!" Said Mario.

" The signal," Sonic told me. " Was something Tails sent out. Only people who had the dark goo infection previously would receive it. I guess it worked."

" Ya guess? Of course it worked pal!" Cuphead exclaimed. " I didn't hesitate to come. I had to get revenge for Mugman. This goo was part of the reason he died."

" Yeah. And it endangered my people! I couldn't live with that!" Mario said.

" Wow. Thank you all. Really." I said, and faced the girl. She seemed nervous. Backing into a pillar. Her head down.

I walked slowly up to her.

" Hey. Can I ask who you are? I don't remember seeing you on our travels." She looked up at me, still afraid. I gently put a hand on her shoulder. " Please. You helped me. I am sooo in your debt. And I don't even say that often, so it's true. Are you from that one world? With the mafia and watch tower?" I smiled at her. Hat kid continued to look at the ground.

" I-I was watching you from my phone. I was in a plane in another country while you were doing your thing. That whole endeavour was filmed, by the government. I watched you. You and Lilac were so cool! You faced the mafia so bravely, where it took me a while to fight them. I figured the least I could was come here to help. Once I got the signal I knew just where to go. I had a hat crafted to teleport me here. Cost me almost everything. But it was important to me. To repay a debt. I'm sorry I didn't help you guys when you first came to my world. Maybe you wouldn't have gotten so beat up if I did." Hat girl began to cry. I lifted her head with my hands.

" Hat girl, can I call you that? Anway, listen to me. I want you to honestly listen to me. You did _nothing wrong. Nothing._ So what if you weren't there? You didn't know we would be landing in. You probably moved since it was too dangerous right? That makes total sense. Heck, I might've done the same. The fact that you came all the way here, just to help me. Now _that is heroic._ I don't know if I would've done that. I can selfish sometimes. I admit that. But you Hat girl? No! I can tell you that I am more than thankful you came here. You helped make this victory possible. Those umbrella and hat combos? Jeeeeessus! I don't even know how you did that! What I'm saying is, thank you. You never did anything wrong. I won't tell you how to feel, but I will suggest being happier. I'm a hero, and I know this to be true!" Hat girl wiped her face, and looked me in the eyes. She was smiling.

" Hehe. It seems you really are a great hero Ignatius. Those words, thank you so much for them. Not many people have been nice to me. But you have been. Do I deserve this?"

" What? Do not ask such silly questions! Of course you do! We all do! Well, maybe not Mephiles. But you get it!" Hat kid laughed, and hugged me. Sure, she was human, and I didn't know her very well. But hey, as a hero you gotta do these kinds of things! I held her fast, letting her cry. She was very, very brave for such a young girl.

The others crowded around me. Lilac gave me a reassuring smile.

" Well done Iggy. Well done." She told me.

" Well done? Isn't that an understatement? I saved the freaking universe and that's all I get?!" I asked sarcastically. Lilac chuckled.

" We all did. But yeah."

" Hey uh, don't wanna break the moment. But shouldn't we get outta here?" Cuphead asked. The island underneath us was beginning to break down. Soon it would fall to the land below. It wouldn't be sustained without the darkness, I guessed. I softly removed Hat kid from my chest.

" Alright. You ok? We need to leave. Maybe someday I'll come visit again. Would you like that? I wanna see more of all your worlds!" I exclaimed. My friends nodded.

" Sure! That'll be way past cool!" Sonic said.

" Yup! We can have a swell old time!" Cuphead agreed.

" Whya not? Come along whenaever!" Mario said.

" Yes! I will definitely look forward to that moment!" Hat kid said.

" How are you all gonna leave?" Lilac asked.

" I got more of that potion. If y'all wanna use that." Cuphead offered. They all agreed, having no other choice.

" And you? How will you get out?" Sonic asked.

" Um. Do you some potion for us Cuppy?" I asked.

" Don't call me that. But I do yeah. Got more than I bargained for hehe." He dripped some green liquid in a few different spots. Circular portals formed from out of them. " Once you get in, just wish for the place you wanna go. And keep that thought, and you'll make it."

Me and Lilac waved goodbye as our friends leaped into their portals. Cuphead saluted me, Sonic gave me a thumbs up, Mario pumped his fist, and Hat kid simply waved back. Once their portals were gone, it was just Lilac and I. The island began to crack under us.

" You ready to go?" Lilac asked.

" I think so yeah." I said. " You know, I was really worried about you. I hated that fact that we had been separated. I had to get you back. And I'm glad I did."

" Aw, how long was it?"  
" I dunno. Maybe not that long. But any time without you is time wasted in my opinion."  
" Hehehe, Iggy you're too kind. Really though, we need to leave." She started for the final portal. I followed her. We jumped in.

The two of us dove through a swirling vortex. It was a rainbow of colors, it almost made my eyes hurt. I thought of Eurashia, with its vast oceans and islands. Not too long after we face planted into more grass. But this time it was green, soft grass. It was my home island. Lilac helped me up.

" We made it!" She exclaimed.

" We did! We actually did!"

" That was honestly a ton of fun! I'm glad we did that together." She told me. I smiled.

" Same here. I wouldn't have had it any other way." I readied myself. " I'll race you back to my shack."

" Wait what?" I dashed off, feeling the fresh breeze in my fur, the shine of the sun. Lilac chased after me as we zoomed off, finally done with our quest, to stop the worlds of malice.


End file.
